Invitations

Blogs

Important Info

Cymbidium Orchids

Inserting into OASIS Using Cowee Picks

To place Cymbidium orchids into Oasis, florists sometimes use Cowee picks. These wooden picks have wire tightly wrapped around one end and are dyed green to blend in easily with the florist foam.

I've already ensured that the cut orchids have a water source by
wiring them using Corsage Picks.
But this slender wire may bob around a bit because the Cymbidium orchid is rather heavy. This can cause it to wallow out a larger hole in the Oasis foam.

By attaching a wooden Cowee pick, I've now given the wired orchid a sturdier base. Cowee picks absorb water and then swell slightly in the foam, tightening the stem firmly into the Oasis.

Now you have to work with flower heads to show them off to the best advantage in the bouquet. You want the "full face" of the flower to always be showing in every direction. If I plunged this wired orchid directly in - you would see the top of the orchid - not the full head.

I solve this by bending the wire before inserting into the bouquet holder.

Now by looking down on the top of the bouquet you can see what the orchid looks like in the holder.

The next orchid is on a shorter wire, because I'm going to cluster it in tightly to the first orchid, slightly deeper than the first to create some depth perception. Notice I've added a Cowee pick to this orchid as well.

I start this Cymbidium orchid in the section below the first focal flower, and tilt out slightly.

From the top view, you can see that the Cymbidium orchids touch, but I haven't crowded them so tightly that they crease the petals. As you see from this view directly above the bouquet that the heads of both orchids are shown to full advantage.

This side view shows just how far above the bouquet holder that the heads of the Cymbidium orchids actually are. If I was to plunge these flowers down until they were touching the with the undersides of the flowers, you would soon fill up the holder without room for very many other flowers.

Since this is going to be a rather large bouquet, I need to leave plenty of room to insert more flowers.